The Louisiana Senate Judiciary Committee recently passed Senate Bill 213 in a 4-3 vote, allowing a riverboat casino license to relocate from Bossier City to Slidell in St. Tammany Parish; currently, casinos are banned in the parish, however, it was one of 64 parishes that voted to allow sports betting.
If the bill passes the Senate and the House, and is signed into law by Governor John Bel Edwards, the issue would appear on the November 2021 ballot. The bill’s sponsor, state Senator Sharon Hewitt, said, “it’s about giving our local community the opportunity to vote.”
Peninsula Pacific Entertainment wants to move the Bossier City casino license associated with its DiamondJacks Casino, which P2E closed last year due to Covid-19, to Slidell, about 30 miles northeast of New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain. P2E officials said the license move receives state and local support, P2E would invest $250 million in a new casino resort just off Interstate 10 at Lakeshore Marina. Officials said the Slidell casino would create 1,700 construction jobs and 1,900 permanent positions. P2E would pay a 5 percent tax on gross gaming revenue to the parish.
Still controversy surrounds the Judiciary Committee vote. State Senator Gary Smith, chairman of the committee, cast the tiebreaking vote allowing the license relocation to Slidell. However, Smith’s wife, Katherine, is one of the 19 lobbyists hired by Brent Stevens, founder and chairman of P2E, to lobby for the Slidell casino. Smith said, “She didn’t tell me. Any involvement by her would not change my opinion that letting the people of that area vote on the issue is the correct vote.”
Gene Mills, president of the Family Forum, the state’s most influential faith-based lobby, said Smith’s the tie-breaking vote “screams ethically unacceptable even if not legally forbidden.” Mills asked Senate President Page Cortez to return the bill to the Judiciary B Committee for another vote “where no members are married to paid lobbyists or be required to abstain from voting in ethically questionable situations. We are told an ethics complaint is being filed by impacted citizens who are disgruntled with this action.”
In response, Cortez sent SB213 to the Finance Committee instead of to the Senate floor. As a result, the bill will have to pass an additional challenge before senators can vote on it.
Numerous ministers from Slidell oppose the move, stating a local casino would lead to suicides, broken marriages and other societal problems.
